Ladder Internships

What Ladder Internships does

Ladder Internships is a privately-held, founder-operated virtual internship marketplace founded in 2021 by Dhruva Bhat, a Harvard College graduate and Oxford Rhodes Scholar. The company matches high school and university students with early-stage startups for 8-week, project-based remote placements under a cohort model with four intake periods per year (Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter). Its core technology is a web-based application and student-company matching system overlaid on a structured 8-week curriculum with weekly milestones (project definition, first draft, deliverable presentations, final presentation), delivered via video conferencing with a company-supplied coach and a host-startup supervisor.

The product portfolio spans four tiers: the Startup Internship Program (the original offering), the CEO Internship Program (premium tier with FAANG and top-20-university founder mentors), the University Internship Program (a college-student variant), and the Combination Program (a 23+ week CEO + Mentored Research track yielding a college-level research paper). Revenue is generated through cohort-based subscription pricing across these tiers, with selective admissions (10-25% acceptance, 70-100 students per cohort) and a cross-subsidy mechanism in which paying-student fees fund financial aid; the company has disbursed more than $204,000 in aid to over 150 students to date. The company runs entirely remotely with staff distributed across multiple countries and lists Cambridge, MA as its primary location.

Customers sit on both sides of the marketplace. Demand-side customers are ambitious high-school and university students seeking differentiated college-application experiences, career exploration, and real startup projects; supply-side customers are 50+ high-growth startups across AI, health tech, finance, sustainability, and non-profit sectors seeking motivated talent at low cost. Distribution is primarily direct-to-consumer via the company website, organic SEO through a state-by-state guide blog, Calendly-scheduled informational sessions, alumni word-of-mouth, and social proof from interns placed at top universities. Cumulative scale to date includes 6,200+ applications received, 1,200+ interns placed, and 50+ host companies, with no disclosed institutional funding round and modest financial backing from ilabs and Antler.

Name

Ladder Internships

Legal name

Ladder Internships

Website

https://ladderinternships.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2021

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Ladder Internships is a founder-led virtual internship marketplace that matches high school and university students with early-stage startups for 8-week, project-based remote placements delivered through selective, cohort-based programs with a cross-subsidized financial aid model.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Virtual Internship Programs

NAICS

Educational Support Services (6117), Professional and Management Development Training (611430)

SIC

Services-Educational Services (8200), Services-Employment Agencies (7361)

akta.pro primary industry

Provider-Run International Internship Programs (Multi-Country/Multi-Industry) (EDAIAFAA)

akta.pro secondary industries

Remote/Virtual International Internship Programs (EDAIAFAF), Apprenticeships, Internships & Work-Based Learning Programs (BPACANAK), Experiential Learning & Internships/Co-ops (EDALABAG)

Keywords

• Virtual internship programs
• Student startup matching
• High school internships
• Remote internship platform
• Career experience programs

Headquarters

HQ city

Cambridge

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Marketing or Sales, Operations, Technology or R&D, Others

Revenue model

1. Student Program Fees: Revenue generated from student program fees which vary by program type. Financial aid is available for students in need, with over $204,000+ provided to date. The company operates on a cohort-based model with multiple intake periods per year.
2. Financial Aid Subsidy: The company cross-subsidizes through full program fees from paying students to fund financial aid for underserved students. Over 150 students have received financial aid across their programs.

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion3 records

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels5 records

Core offering

Ladder Internships runs fully virtual, cohort-based internship programs that match ambitious high school and university students with early-stage startups to complete real-world projects over an 8-week (or extended) structured curriculum. The company curates host startups, assigns tailored projects, supports students with a dedicated coach, and delivers outcomes such as completed deliverables, reference letters, and certificates, monetized through program fees with financial aid provided to students in need.

Product overview

Ladder Internships operates as a multi-program platform offering virtual internship opportunities. The core portfolio consists of four interconnected programs: the Startup Internship Program (8-week virtual placement with early-stage companies), the CEO Internship Program (direct mentorship from startup founders and executives), the University Internship Program (tailored for college students), and the Combination Program (merging CEO Internship with Mentored Research). Additionally, the Ladder Blog provides supplementary educational content covering internship opportunities across various disciplines and geographies.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• Startup Internship Program An 8-week virtual internship program that matches ambitious high school and university students with top startups to work on real-world projects. Includes 8 sessions with host companies and approximately 5-10 hours of weekly work, with structured weekly milestones and a dedicated coach.
• CEO Internship Program A premium internship program where students work directly with startup CEOs, including founders from FAANG-level companies and top 20 universities, offering high-growth startup experience and direct executive mentorship.
• University Internship Program An 8-week virtual internship program specifically designed for university students to work with startup companies on projects aligned with their interests, requiring approximately 5-10 hours per week.
• Combination Program: CEO Internship + Mentored Research Program A combined 23-week program (8+15 weeks) that pairs the CEO Internship with a mentored research component, offering both professional work experience and the opportunity to complete a college-level research paper.

Quantifiable outcome

• 6200+ total applications received, 1200+ interns placed with 50+ host companies
• +2 more outcomes

Named customers9 records

Segments5 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

Technology focussed Yes

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Feature2 records

Scale indicators7 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Forage: Forage runs free virtual "job simulations" with real companies (similar in cohort-based virtual work experience to Ladder). It targets students and recent graduates with structured project-based experiences, the closest direct competitor in the high-school/early-college virtual work-experience category.
• Parker Dewey: Parker Dewey operates a micro-internship marketplace connecting college students with short-term paid projects at companies. It shares Ladder's project-based, virtual, cohort-style model but emphasizes paid micro-internships rather than unpaid experiential learning.
• Riipen: Riipen provides work-integrated learning partnerships between educational institutions and employers, similar in virtual-internship matching and experiential-learning positioning to Ladder. Its platform-model and emphasis on measurable outcomes overlap with Ladder's structured 8-week deliverables.
• Intern Abroad HQ: Intern Abroad HQ is a provider-run international internship marketplace placing students at host companies across multiple countries and industries. It is structurally analogous to Ladder but focused on physical/in-person placements abroad rather than fully virtual delivery.

Broad incumbents

• Handshake: Handshake is the dominant college-career platform connecting students to employers and internship opportunities across U.S. universities. It is a broad incumbent in the same end market but offers full-time and internship job listings rather than curated project-based experiences.
• LinkedIn (Career Services): LinkedIn operates the largest professional network with internship listings, learning content, and recruitment tools spanning students through executives. As a broad incumbent it competes for the same student-career-development wallet and employer-intern demand as Ladder.
• Coursera Career Academy: Coursera offers credentials, specializations, and career-focused learning paths that compete for the same student-development wallet as Ladder. As a broad incumbent in online education, it provides an alternative path to career-relevant experience through courses and certificates rather than host-company projects.
• International Internships (CIEE): CIEE is a large nonprofit provider of international internship and study-abroad programs across many countries and industries. It overlaps with Ladder's provider-run multi-country internship category but operates primarily in-person with university sponsorship.

Emerging players

• MentorCruise: MentorCruise runs a marketplace for paid 1:1 mentorship from industry experts, structurally similar to Ladder's CEO Internship Program. It is comparable in offering students structured access to senior practitioners but does not run full project-based internship cohorts.
• CollegeVine: CollegeVine operates in the college-admissions support space with admissions consulting, essay review, and student-facing content. While it does not run internships, it targets the same ambitious high-school student segment and competes for the parent-paid admissions-enhancement wallet that drives Ladder's top-of-funnel demand.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat5 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/LadderInterns
• Facebookfacebook.com/ladderinternships

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles1 record

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Ladder Internships